Chance Me for CS / Data Science / IS / Engineering Schools [WA resident, 3.85 UW, 1540 SAT]

Chance Me / Match Me
1

Please be honest. Applying mostly EA where possible.

Demographics

  • US domestic applicant

  • Washington state resident

  • Public high school

  • No legacy/recruited athlete/major hooks

  • Budget matters somewhat, and merit aid would strongly affect decisions for schools like Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, etc.

Intended Majors

  • Carnegie Mellon: Information Systems

  • Northeastern: CS

  • GT: Computational Media

  • UW: CS

  • UIUC: Statistics + CS

  • Purdue: DS

  • Case Western: BME

  • Texas A&M: Statistics

  • NC State: Statistics

  • Montana State: EE

  • U South Carolina: CS

  • U Alabama: CS

  • U Kentucky: CS

GPA / Testing

  • Unweighted GPA: 3.85

  • Weighted GPA: 4.25

  • School does not rank

  • SAT: 1540 (800 Math)

Coursework

APs Taken / Taking

  • AP Human Geography (5)

  • AP World History (4)

  • AP Physics C: Mech

  • AP Calc AB

  • AP Language and Comp

  • AP US History

  • AP CS A (self study)

  • Additional AP/honors coursework throughout high school

Highest Math

  • Calculus level coursework

  • Planning to take dual enrollment for linear algebra

Science

  • Biology

  • Chemistry

  • AP Physics C

CS/Technical Coursework

  • AP Computer Science coursework

  • Independent programming projects outside school

    • CS app that summarizes congressional bills by pulling messy bills from Congress’s API
    • Diabetes Regression model that tracks risk

Awards

  • National Merit Commended

  • picoCTF competitor (top ~1000 globally at one point)

  • Hack Club Game Jam Winner

  • DECA Area Finalist

  • Local Runner Up in Nasa Hackathon

  • Published Research on the intersects between CS and Statistics

  • Local Foreign Language Credit Recipient Award

Extracurriculars

  • Developing mobile app on my passion for wildlife photography

  • Head Java Curriculum Developer for a student nonprofit initiative

  • Data science/AI blog with current-event analysis posts

  • VOICE mentor helping elementary school students with social interaction difficulties build communication and collaboration skills

  • FLL mentor for younger students

  • Tamil school teacher for 3+ years teaching children my native language teaching almost 100+ kids

  • Model UN participant and competitor being recognized as a runner up in regional competition

  • JV Tennis

  • Chess Club involvement for 3 years

Most of my ECs revolve around technology, education, mentorship, and applying computing toward real-world problems.

Essays / LORs

  • Essays will likely focus on combining technology with education/social impact

  • Essays focus on my unique interests: one I am fixed on is the time I counted the number of times my AP Lang teacher said “sure” creating a statistical model that correctly predicted that the more times she said sure, the more chill her grading was. This was a really fun inside joke with my friends but can show intellectual curiosity to these schools

  • Recommendations should be solid overall with me having a good connection and being above average in their respective classes.

  • Biggest concern is whether my profile feels too broad between CS, statistics, engineering, healthcare, and education

Schools

Assured

  • Alabama

  • South Carolina

  • Kentucky

  • Montana State

Extremely Likely

  • Texas A&M (Statistics)

  • NC State (Statistics)

Likely

  • Purdue (Data Science)

  • Case Western

Toss-Up

  • UIUC Statistics + CS

  • Georgia Tech Computational Media

Lower Probability

  • Northeastern

  • Carnegie Mellon Information Systems

  • UW Seattle CS-related pathways

2

I don’t think there’s a problem with your profile being too broad. There is nothing wrong with breadth in your interests and pursuits, as long as there’s also some depth in select areas of interest.

What seems oddly broad to me is the range of majors and schools that you’re applying to. For example, if you aren’t intent on CS everywhere, and your interests lean more toward DS/IS, why wouldn’t you apply to Informatics at UDub? It’s a fabulous program.

Why those two engineering majors, EE at Montana State and BME at CWRU, but not engineering elsewhere?

And if you’re are leaning engineering-adjacent, why stats at TAMU, when you could be applying to, for example, data engineering?

I guess all I’m saying is, this array of majors doesn’t give me a coherent picture of what you’re looking for.

Also… are you not applying to any less-reachy in-state programs, in addition to UDub? No WSU or WWU?

Also, in terms of school where you’d get the WUE discount as a WA resident, you have Montana State but no others. Oregon State just launched a new Data Science major that you might like. U of Utah has a great Honors College and excellent CS, DS, and math programs as well as engineering. Colorado State has a DS major with multiple choices of concentration, including CS and stats.

You seem like a very solid applicant who should end up with many good options. It’s just very hard to infer what you’re looking for, not only major-wise, but geographically, and in terms of campus environment (urban vs. rural, “rah-rah” vs. “nerdy,” and so on).

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3

Hi - so a few things:

  1. What do you want to major in - that’s what you should apply for. You have several. Why go into IS if you want CS?

  2. Don’t focus on merit - because it’s not relevant. Focus on cost. A Bama, for you, will be low 20s. But an NC State will be $50K with tuition, room and board - and you won’t get merit, but even if you do, it won’t be much. Some schools - a UF for example, would be cheaper than a CU with merit. So what cost are you trying to hit?

  3. If you are full pay, CMU is $88K for tuition, room and board. If it’s that or $20K Bama, which are you choosing? If Bama, save your app time.

Of course, for some of your schools, your essay or ECs won’t matter. I don’t see foreign language listed - how many years do you have?

You want to ensure you have as much English, math, social science, and foreign language as possible. Extras like AP CS are irrelevant - especially if you didn’t take the class.

Your assured aren’t assured - but they are highly likely except for U of SC which I’ll call likely.

A&M and NC State are likely - I’d agree. But both will cost more - and you are doing statistics. Do you want to be a stats major? If not, then why not CS. If best case U of SC is $15K more than Bama, is it worth applying? If NC State is $30K more, etc. - that’s how you can winnow your list.

Purdue and CWRU are toss ups - but with CWRU demonstrated interest matters - so make sure they have your email and as they email you, open them. Play the videos even if you walk away. Do an online admission session or two. If you visit - bonus.

UIUC and Ga Tech are reaches with Ga Tech a far reach. And yes NU, CMU and UW are reaches. You have a shot at UW because you are in-state. Otherwise it’d be the biggest reach on the list.

But Montana State, for example, with WUE is $22440 direct costs. So - if schools like UIUC at over $60K will be a no go, why apply?

So talk to mom and dad about a budget. Merit means nothing. Cost is what matters.

This is irrelevant. What do you want to study? No one cares if your ECs match your intention - as many change anyway. For those who care about ECs and many of yours above don’t - but for those who care, they want to know did you do something, did you develop tenure and responsibility and do it well.

This isn’t a game. You will spend four years and hopefully a life doing something, in part based off a major.

So choose the major you want - that’s far more important than the school name.

Good luck.

4 Likes
4

This is a big part of what I was thinking.

Your ECs do not need to match your major (and your ECs look very good to me). Also, it is very common for students to change their major at some point.

Generally speaking engineering and CS students should be taking quite a bit of math, including things like introduction to probability and statistics (and of course calculus and linear algebra). For CS students some knowledge of algorithms would also be useful. With 800 on the math part of the SAT, I am thinking that you are quite good at math. All of this can typically make it easier for a student who is already majoring in either engineering or CS to switch into either statistics or mathematics, rather than vice versa. It is entirely normal for a student to want to take some time to decide between these fields.

I am wondering if you should add Washington State to your list. I am also wondering about WUE schools such as Oregon State and Colorado State. Given this list I would expect you to get some acceptances to schools that are pretty far away so pay attention to what the travel will cost (and whether you want to travel that much for a full four years).

There are also a few very good schools just barely to the north or west of you (assuming that you are somewhere near Seattle or Tacoma). You could at least consider UBC, Simon Fraser, and/or the U. of Victoria. At least the last time that I looked UBC was more expensive for international students compared to the other two, but it is of course better known in the US and the exchange rate is very favorable for Americans studying in Canada.

To me it looks like you are doing very well.

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5

Agree with previous answers. Your major choices are all over the place. Why?

Georgia Tech is a reach, especially for OOS students. Why Computational Media instead of CS? If you’re thinking admission odds will be better, they won’t be. If you’re thinking you’ll transfer to CS later that’s a bad strategy. CS has become a competitive major and isn’t an automatic transfer like it used to be. Schools can determine when you’re trying to game the system. They see it every year.

You need to solidify your budget. Some of the schools on your list are approaching $100k/year and don’t offer merit.

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